MAY 23: As expected, Cincinnati announced this morning that Mahle, Almora, Kuhnel and Drury have been reinstated from the restricted list before tonight’s series opener with the Cubs. Aquino, Aschraft and Motter have been returned to the minors and are no longer on the 40-man roster.
MAY 20: The Reds announced a host of roster moves before their series against the Blue Jays. First baseman Joey Votto has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list. Outfielder Aristides Aquino, righty Graham Ashcraft and utilityman Taylor Motter have all been selected to the majors as designated COVID “substitutes.”
Cincinnati placed four players — Tyler Mahle, Albert Almora Jr., Joel Kuhnel and Brandon Drury — on the restricted list. That’s standard procedure for players who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 playing on teams that are headed to Toronto. The Canadian government prohibits unvaccinated players from entering the country, so that quartet will be unavailable for this weekend’s series.
Votto returns after missing more than two weeks because of virus concerns. The six-time All-Star began experiencing COVID symptoms during the first week of May, and he wound up missing enough time the organization sent him on a brief minor league rehab assignment. After a pair of appearances with Triple-A Louisville, the Toronto native returns for a set against his hometown club. He’ll look to right the ship offensively after the time off; Votto has opened the season in a dreadful .122/.278/.135 slump through 22 games.
Aquino, Motter and Ashcraft all occupy temporary spots on the roster. That the club specified they were COVID substitutes suggests it’s likely to be a brief stint for all three. Players whose contracts are selected with that designation can be removed from the 40-man roster and returned to the minors without passing through waivers as the team returns to full strength. In the Reds’ case, that’ll be after this series, so each of Aquino, Motter and Ashcraft is probably only up for three days.
The righty-hitting Aquino opened the year in the majors but got out to an awful start. He was outrighted off the roster earlier this month, but he’s tattooed Triple-A pitching (.314/.405/.743 with four homers) through ten games. Motter signed a minor league deal last month. The righty-hitting utilityman is hitting .245/.344/.566 with Louisville and offers some multi-positional depth in Drury’s place.
While this figures to be a brief stint for Ashcraft, the 24-year-old will probably play a notable role on the roster before too long. A sixth-round pick out of UAB in 2019, the 6’2″ hurler has quickly developed into one of the better arms in the farm system. Ashcraft split last season between High-A Dayton and Double-A Chattanooga, posting an even 3.00 ERA across 111 innings. He’s spent this year with Louisville, working to a 1.65 ERA over seven starts, albeit without great strikeout or walk numbers.
Baseball America recently ranked Ashcraft the #12 prospect in the Cincinnati organization, praising a mid-90s cut fastball that serves as his primary offering. Both BA and FanGraphs — which slotted him #17 in the system — suggest that Ashcraft’s below-average changeup and inconsistent control point to a long-term bullpen future, but he’s remained a starter to this point as a pro. Ashcraft will have to be added to the 40-man roster next offseason to keep him from selection in the Rule 5 draft, and potential trades by the last-place Reds could open an extended opportunity for him later this summer.
Cincinnati also announced that shortstop José Barrero will begin a rehab assignment with the Bats. The club’s anticipated regular shortstop, he hasn’t played this season after suffering a hamate injury during Spring Training. Position players can spend up to 20 days on rehab assignments, suggesting Barrero’s set to make his 2022 debut within the next three weeks assuming all goes well in the minors.
USA has the same rules so that makes USA a joke?
I’m barely hanging onto a roster spot, now let me not get vaccinated and make myself unavailable and make the team think twice about including me on the roster going forward.
Notice how no one’s forcing a vaccine on anyone. I’m just saying don’t go crying about how your rights or livelihood are being infringed upon when they call up someone else next time.
Reds will probably lose 90-100 games this year. Nice little break from the dumpster fire this season is going to be. Enjoy your mental health days fellas.
They may well lose more than that
Drury is just afraid of playing in TOR after how things ended there
So much for the Blue Jays reported interest in Mahle over the winter.
Every MLB team should be required to play the Blue Jays In Toronto this year so that the idiot unvaccinated players are “outed” once and for all
They will starting next year. With the balanced schedule over half the NL will be traveling across the border in 2023.
Some of you people need help.
I don’t get this vitriol for unvaccinated people. It doesn’t stop transmission or infection. The only thing it does is, maybe, make it better for you if you get sick. And that’s a maybe because you never know what the symptoms will be and how extreme. Getting vaccinated doesn’t protect anyone else. So why do you care who isn’t?
You nailed it when you said “I don’t get this”
As you said, and Ducey agreed with, you don’t get it.
Vaccinated people are less likely to get Covid. They’re also less likely to be hospitalized. They’re also less likely to die from Covid.
When you were less likely to get Covid, you are less likely to pass it on to your family members, friends, and neighbors.
The lack of a vaccine for the general population is why China is dealing with massive lockdowns of major cities right now.
It’s science.
How about because unvaccinated people take up beds in hospitals that are needed for other people. People have died from other diseases because beds in hospitals were full of unvaccinated Covid patients. I know this because my neighbor is a nurse and she told me that almost all of the Covid patients in her hospital have been unvaccinated. And many of them were crying and begging for the vaccine after they were there. But it ended up being too late for some.
So yes, those “personal choices” can affect others as well as those too uninformed or stubborn to do what needs to be done.
Barrero has no business playing shortstop. Kyle Farmer is our shortstop. Bell better leave the lineup alone too.
You’re joking, this is a joke, right? Please tell me you’re joking
Kyle farmer is a good player to have on the bench, but he is no way the long term answer at shortstop. Jose Barrero was the Red’s number one prospect last year and will be the best Reds shortstop since Barry Larkin.
Will be? Realize that prospects fail at a very high rate. MLB history is full of “can’t miss” guys that missed. You HOPE he will be, but it is far from a guarantee.
Also you want David Bell to leave alone a line up that is 11-26 and is in dead last this season?
Bob C – At one point, the starting 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, and CF were on the IL. The RF and C had just returned from the IL. And 3 starting pitchers missed more than a month as welll.
The MLB team isn’t 11-26, the AAA team is 11-26 vs MLB competition.
Kyle Farmer has a 70 OPS+, you do realize how awful that is, right?
Why doesn’t anybody ever talk about the competitive advantage the Blue Jays get when every team they play in Toronto has to leave part of their roster home? MLB is silent. Even worse, the players association apparently has no interest in defending a certain portion of their members losing pay. I think the players still lose their pay, correct? Also, it would be an interesting article for MLBTraderumors to put together….
That’s because the Jays were at a competitive disadvantage in 2020 and 2021, playing in Buffalo and Dunedin before finally getting permission to play in Toronto.
It;s been 2+ years of the ‘Vid. Let people make their own decisions.
So your Pro Choice right?
Only when its their choice, is freedom important. When someone else disagrees, choice is not a concern.
@ear, because not playing a sport and intentionally ending life are similar? I’m no hardliner either way but this is not a convincing argument.
fun* not “gun”… but not the most inapplicable autocorrect I’ve ever seen.
Also around for 2+ years: diphtheria, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis, whooping cough. Relying on only your own decisions for those too?
Aquino & Ashcraft helped their cause in playing for Reds in Toronto. Motter? Not so much. Almora , now that he’s over that mental block, gets his first chance at Cubbies this week. I’m thinking 5 hits + 2 HBP for Albert in this series.
Ashcraft looked pretty good, I think he has potential. Greene looks downright nasty in a good way. As a Jays fan I was pretty happy they kept running Motter out there to play awful defence and look overmatched at the plate.
Honest question for diehard Reds fans: How is the front office with international scouting/spending? I know their payroll isn’t competitive by any means, but are they allocating or using their resources for the International Market? The trades they have made recently have backfired and set this team back for at least 2-3 years, if not more. It’s a shame too, I always valued the Cincinnati Reds as a historical MLB franchise and I actually have been to GAB last year for Dodgers/Reds, it’s a loyal fanbase that deserves better from it’s ownership.
These guys who won’t get the vaccine needs to be released. I don’t care who it is.